adam

I think they are ok with Jones, Whitehair, and Jenkins for 2023 and will address C and RT with some depth at G.

Buckner got 4/84 ($21M AAV), so I assume Payne will come in around there. $21M for 4 or 5 years (so 84 or 105).

Unless something crazy happens, I think Anderson is going to be the Bears pick, especially if they pick in the top 3. After that, it will be a crapshoot. Big boards are already shifting and Paris Johnson is now ahead of Skoronski for OL on some of them.

His speed is somewhat concerning or lack thereof. He is very similar to N'Keal Harry, Kelvin Benjamin, and Laquon Treadwell in terms of size and speed. That is not a spectacular group.

There is a unwritten threshold for an RBs for when they hit the wall. Regardless of age, that is between 1500-2000 touches (rushes+receptions+returns). Montgomery is at 1070 for his career. He averages about 267 touches a year, so he would hit the bottom end of the threshold in 2 years. So if the Bears do sign him, there will be an out after 2 years. Barkley is at 1201 and would be hit the threshold after 1 year. That is somewhat concerning with his injury history. Some guys buck the trend, but it definitely happens within that window.

We really need a late round first or early 2nd, and we should be able to grab a top 5 WR before pick 40.

Maybe in Week 18, when no one was playing, but players don't slack off on the Bears offense because they can, come on now. The Bears were in a ton of games this year, and it wasn't because defenses were slacking off against them. Just read all the quotes from other team's defenders and coaches. The only guy they were concerned about was Fields, and he still gashed them. Does he need to improve as a passer, absolutely, but he only passed the ball 318 times. So it is hard to just look at raw numbers like totals because they don't tell the whole story. Look at other QBs that hard similar attempts: Fields threw for 2242 yards, 17 TDs, and 11 INTs with those 318 attempts Lamar Jackson had 326 attempts, and had the same amount of yards, 2242, 17 TDs, and 7 INTs Stafford had 303 attempts, 2087 yards, 10 TD, 8 INTs Mariota, 300 attempts, 2219 yards, 15 TD, 9 INTs Just as a passer, he is in line with other QBs with the same number of attempts throwing to Mooney, Pringle, Pettis, and ESB.

The average game score is 49.2 for these playoffs. The average for the regular season is 43.8. So scoring is up 5.4 pts.

They were all pretty good games. Prescott has looked like that a lot. He missed 16 games over the last 3 years, but had 2 great seasons in between those years. You never know who you are going to get. At times it looks like he forgets how to play.

I am doing it. These were the pass protection rankings for the teams that lost compared to what Fields was dealing with this year: JAX - 3rd DAL - 4th BUF - 7th NYG - 24th CHI - 32nd How about skill position players: WR/TE/RB: JAX - Kirk-Chark/ Engram/Etienne DAL - Lamb-Gallup/Schultz/Zeke-Pollard BUF - Diggs-Davis/Knox/Singletary NYG - Slayton-James/Bellinger/Barkley Herbert was the highest rated Bears offensive player but only had 6 games with more than 10 carries and only hit 20 carries once. Fields literally had no O-Line and Kmet and Herbert as the only above average offensive weapons. If you put Fields on any of those losing teams, he is significantly better. If you put those QBs on the Bears, and they are significantly worse. Can you imagine Daniel Jones on the Bears?

Pollard broke his fibula, 3 to 6 month recovery. He probably won't be 100% for 6-8 months. Can you risk signing him without knowing if he will be the same player after the injury? I don't think Poles can risk it.

I don't know if any of you guys watched the playoff games this weekend, but after watching them all, one thing was apparent. Fields is definitely an elite QB. I can't tell you how many plays he could've made that the losing QBs couldn't. He may not be at the level of Mahomes, Burrow, or Hurts yet, but I feel like he is better than the following guys: Lawrence 24-39, 217 yds, 5.6 YA, 1 TD, 1 INT, 74.4 Rating, 3-26 Rushing - literally played dink and dunk football, then throws game ending INT. I feel like he is going to be a guy that puts up stats, beats bad teams, then loses in the playoffs. Allen 25-42, 59.5%, 265 yds, 6.3 Y/A, 0 TD, 1 INT, 68.1 Rating, 8-26, 1 TD Rushing - I have really soured on him, once they took away Diggs, Allen didn't look good. He is a huge boom or bust guy. 3x 75 yard bombs for TDs, or multiple INTs. Now I still think he is a top 10 QB, but I think he is out of the top 5 for me now. Prescott 23-37, 62.2%, 206 yds, 5.6 Y/A, 1 TD, 2 INT, 63.6 Rating, 4-22 Rushing - He should be called Dak Grossman. I have never seen a guy have a 4x TD game followed by a multiple INT game where he looks completely lost. Dallas has no choice to keep him, but this is Dallas' ceiling with him at QB. Jones 15-27, 55.6%, 135 yds, 5.0 Y/A, 0 TD, 1 INT, 53.8 Rating, 6-24 Rushing - He had the game of his career against MIN, then everyone thought that was him after one game? Boy did he come back down to earth with one of the worst performances in Divisional Round playoff game in awhile. 135 passing yards is comical with over 25 passing attempts. He is a poor man's Josh Allen, only more conservative. They will never get past this point with him at QB. Now compare those numbers to what Fields did against the same Philly team Jones just played. Also consider the teams around those QBs: Fields 14-21, 66.7%, 152 yds, 7.2 Y/A, 2 TD, 0 INT, 119.5 Rating, 15-95 Rushing

Yeah, that is awesome, at least for filling out the bottom of the roster.

Payne just got named to the Pro Bowl in place of Donald. For some reason he seems like a perfect fit for the defense.

Hopefully NIL deals will slow down some of the guys leaving early. The biggest reason was money. Scholarships are great, but even those don't cover all expenses for students or athletes. It would a great question to know how many All Pro players from the last few years came out as Juniors or Seniors. I think elite guys will be elite regardless, but with the lower end guys the experience is what gets them over the top.

I would say every $15M in cap space is probably worth a 2nd rounder. This is basically what the Texans did with Osweiler. So the Bears are looking at $50M in cap savings with their trades, so 3 2nd rounders worth of cap space you can add to the trade value.

Brisker, Jones, Gordon, and Gill for sure. Robinson would make the 53-man on several teams and Velus was a top 10 KR guy. Then you also have to look at UDFA and Sanborn. I just like that Poles got rookie production out of his first 5 picks. You need to hit on at least 3 of those 5, and maybe 1 or 2 others to contribute. Poles hit on 4 of 5 with Jones being a big ST contributor.

This is a huge move for the organization. Warren actually has a clue and if he can generate additional revenue, the Bears will have more cash flow for bigger deals. One of hidden things about salaries is the signing bonuses and available cash flow to pay them out immediately. Some teams with low revenue just don't have the cash for things like that. This adds an entire new layer to football operations that never existed before.

and guess who is a UFA? Edmunds lol. It would be awesome if the Bear could sign him to something between 12-$15M a year. That would be the max for me for an Offball LB. How about Adam Shaheen in the 2ND ROUND? Are you serious?

This awesome for the team. Getsy plus a few position coaches will coach at the Senior Bowl. I would not be surprised if the Bears draft 2 or 3 guys from that game. Great intel for scouting and the draft.

We will let it go this time, ? Thanks for hosting Soxtalk and TalkBears for so long. I have been coming to these sites since their inceptions, and if there needs to be donations to keep it running, let me know. Bears Reddit and Discord is too over the top for me.

Yep, he had 5 total tackles in the first quarter, then 3 the rest of the game, which interestingly enough corresponded to the Bengals TD scoring drives (2nd and 3rd quarter). He also didn't even lead his own team in tackles (Hamilton - 9) or the game leader (Wilson, CIN - 10). Logan Wilson, LB, 80th highest paid LB in the league out tackling the highest is not a good look Saint Omni.

So the Bears had 3 huge trades this year, Mack, Quinn, then Smith. Besides creating a ton of cap space (which is hard to quantify), here is how the other teams are doing so far compared to what the Bears got/have: LAC - Mack, Wild Card loss, $27.5M AAV for 2 more years. BAL - Smith, Wild Card loss, $20M AAV for 5 more years. PHI - Quinn - 9 tackles, 1 sack, 1 game played since November 1st, 2023 UFA for Brisker, 2023 - 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th Due to comp picks, the Bears would not have gotten anything if they just let Quinn walk this offseason as they are projected to sign too many to get a comp pick, so getting anything for him was a great deal for the Bears. Since joining the Eagles, Quinn has been a non-factor (it's an even year). Mack was very productive for LAC this year, but it really didn't make much of a difference overall. The team won one more game and lost in the WC round of the playoffs. Mack has two more years left with $27.5M AAV. Smith was also very productive, but the Ravens also lost in the first round of the playoffs. Smith signed a 5yr deal worth $20M a year and the Ravens still have not re-signed Lamar Jackson. The Ravens have $28M in cap space without a starting QB. 9 QBs make over $40M AAV, and another 5 make over $29.5M. That is 14 QBs over $29.5M. Jackson is going to get at least $40M, which means $60M+ of their cap will be caught up between Lamar and Roquan, and the other 49 will need to fit in under the other $165M.

Yeah, I love teams that get a ton of praise by the media but if you really look at them under the hood, it is all a facade. Indy is a great example, Chris Ballard was getting slurped on for drafting Quentin Nelson and had one good draft. The Colts have basically done nothing under his tenure as GM and are in one of the weakest divisions in football. This is the 8th year since they last won the division. So if they go two more (likely with JAX and TEN now), that will be a decade since their last division title when there are only 3 other teams in the division. Minnesota is another one. No one talks about their great 2022 Draft, the first of new GM Kwesi. I think Poles would be fired already if he had a draft like this (with a 1st and 2x 2nd round picks). Have you heard of any of these guys do anything this year? Probably not, because they didn't: 1 Lewis Cine 32 DB (probably a career ending injury on punt return coverage) 2 Andrew Booth 42 CB (12 total tackles) 2 Ed Ingram 59 G (57.1 PFF, 11 sacks allowed, 17 games) 3 Brian Asamoah 66 LB (17 total tackles, 1 FF) 4 Akayleb Evans 118 DB (23 total tackles, 1 FF, 3 TFL, 1 PD) 5 Esezi Otomewo 165 DT (5 total tackles, 1 TFL) 5 Ty Chandler 169 RB (6 rushes for 20 yards) 6 Vederian Lowe 184 OL (33 offensive snaps) 6 Jalen Nailor 191 WR (9-179, 1 TD) 7 Nick Muse 227 TE (no offensive stats) So out of 10 draft picks and 4 in the top 66, they had one starter (Ingram), who was slightly under average at best. Brisker alone was better than all these guys combined. We don't even need to mention Braxton Jones or Gordon. Velus would probably be the Vikings 2nd best draft pick behind Ingram.

they gave up a 2nd AND a 3rd for Hockenson. They did get a 4th back, but still, a 2nd and a 3rd for a TE when you already have a high volume passing game with Jefferson, Thielen, and Osborn. He has a 9.3M cap hit in 2023 and is then a FA in 2024. So this was either a 1.5 year rental or a deal where they are going to have to commit $10M+ to the TE position when they are about to have to pay Jefferson the most money for a WR in NFL history.